Cats in the Cradle
by Yonahdoxie57
Summary: Cas, bruised and broken, is dragged by a feral woman into the rainy, muddy forest after the Impala collides with a downed tree. Afterwards, Cas is tied up in a yurt with a small black cat that seems to want to help him escape. Did Dean survive the crash? Where is he? Human!Cas No smut just fluff. Whump!


Shout out to the many readers that wrote and lovingly complained about how I left things at the end of "Well Wishes", another story of mine. I liked the way I left it and I wanted to make you upset about how I left it BUT I decided we deal with enough of that unrequited crap from the show! So, I tossed you guys a bone in here without making a true sequel or force folks into reading it to be able to enjoy this story. Let me know if this made you happy? Was my story interesting? Exciting? Too drawn out? Thrilling? Scary? Too cliche? Please let me know!

Give me heart if you finished the story!

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Cas, bruised and broken, is dragged by a feral woman into the forest after the Impala collides with a downed tree. Cas is tied up in a yurt with a small black cat that seems to want to help. Did Dean survive the crash? Where is he? Human!Cas No smut just fluff. Whump!

oooooooooo

Of course he had sustained injuries far far worse than this. He had healed injuries far worse than this. But his one hundred percent human mind was panicking at the sight of his one hundred percent human exterior, torn and tattered, broken and scattered until the sweet sound of purring cuddled next to his goear, provided just the right amount of warmth to bring him down from the onslaught of fear and the unrelenting pull of anxiety.

One day earlier…

"What do ya'mean?!" Dean hollard back only turning away from the road for a second to share his expression with his opponent.

"I mean exactly what I said, you are too reckless, Dean! That vampire came up behind you and if I hadn't been there-" Cas was cut off by Dean's excuse.

"But you were there! That's why we don't hunt alone! Like swimming after eating!"

"What does…swimming have to do with vampires?" Cas tilted his head in that adorable way when he knows he's misunderstanding a reference or colloquialism.

Dean muffled through quickly like a sticky note on a cookbook page. "You can't eat then go swimming. You can get stomach cramps and like, drown. So you shouldn't swim alone. You learn it when you're a kid." Then Dean got back to the argument at hand but took a more gentle approach. "Listen, I know you might be more nervous about huntin' and fightin' now that you're human and mortal and all that but… I've got your back and today you had mine. Okay?"

The sound of water hitting the undercarriage from the water on the road and the lite almost pleasant squeak from windshield wipers filled the void until Cas answered.

"... Okay." He was displeased with losing but he couldn't come up with a reasonable argument and Dean had reached over resting his arm on the back of the seat and placed a strong hand on the ex-angel's shoulder the way he always did. It was this unspoken sign of their profound relationship that settled Cas down to his core. The new human took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

"Awesome, now. Can we drop this please?" Dean whined and reached down to turn on the radio or pop in a cassette if nothing good was on since they were in the middle of nowhere land.

That's when, just coming into reach of the headlights through the mist of the heavy rain, there was a large tree laying across the whole reach of country road at the top of a small hill. It was old, mossey and about four feet in diameter. Way too big for a tree hugger to actually succeed. No one could have spotted it in enough time and Dean lost precious reaction time because his eyes were looking at the radio station numbers for half a second.

"DEAN!" Cas yelled but not in enough time for Dean to break the sixty mile per hour moving Impala before it slammed into bark and branches and… solid trunk.

Everything shattered.

Nothing felt right.

The sound of the crash alone was unbearable, as the metal and wood cried out together in one massive moment. A sound like that will grip one's heart for the rest of their lives no matter how much you try to forget it. A sound like that makes your fingertips vibrate with the impact of the memory, as the rest of your body feels like you've been holding your breath for too long. Now Cas was feeling this way just from the sound of the crash, the physical impact was no laughing matter but his head was so fuzzy and heavy he didn't know how to feel about the aches in his body just yet. The vision he had blurred in and out of darkness.

Next, he could feel his feet being dragged along the Earth and over tree roots and puddles. He could feel the wetness soak into his socks through the boots Dean had purchased him. He could feel the raindrops that fell in globules after accumulating on the leaves of the forest canopy.

Then, after some amount of time where he struggled to open his eyes without success the dragging stopped after he was pulled through a wide doorway that his foot got caught on the edge of painfully and then he was tossed against the ground.

When Castiel finally woke up he realized he was sitting against a wooden pole. He also soon realized he was tied to it by his wrists a few feet above his head. The rope around his wrists was thick and extra prickly. Something a real angel could break out of in the blink of an eye. Cas pulled against the rope idly because the rest of the room was still coming into view. There were many boxes, no, crates, no, Cas squinted, they were cages stacked haphazardly a top one another. Inside each one, something small and furry breathed gently. Cas blinked away the blurriness and came to find that each one foot by one foot by one foot cage contained a precious feline. Most of them appeared almost dead and/or malnourished but others stared at him contemplating his scent from afar.

The ex-angel was finally getting his wits about him and could better understand his surroundings. He was in a tent made of stretched, tanned and patched together animal skins. The cats cages looked handmade out of materials found in the woods, like sticks tied together with homemade twine. The floor of the tent was simply packed dirt. The doorway was created by overlapping pieces of tanned skins and two vertical poles on either side. He could hear the crackling of a fire mixed with gentle rain and could smell food, perhaps being cooked over the fire.

Cas shuffled his legs to sit up further then moved to stand but standing was not an option. Cas' knee and perhaps even his for was most likely broken and the pain forced out a choked yelp of pain. He quickly closed his lips to keep quiet. He did not want his captur knowing he was conscious but the sound of a weak injured man had already alerted her.

She tiptoed into in tent and leaned to see Castiel's face. There was a collective shift among the cats in the cages. Some hissed while others cowered.

She was altogether erie. The woman couldn't be over 40 years old but looked worse for wear. Her long, blond-white hair was haphazardly braided to one side and met her left elbow, but there seemed to be just as much hair contained in the braid as there was flying about mixed with pieces of grass, straw and… was that bird poop? She had a cleft foot that kept her standing awkwardly at all times. She was dressed in an amalgamation of woven straw, and animal skin that was pieced together with something that resembled a thick black thread. Overall she seemed 'feral'.

"I demand you let us go." Cas was in no place to threaten but he attempted his deepest voice nonetheless.

The woman stared at his eyes in wonderment. "Us? No us. Only you."

At this Cas stoked the fire in his belly and jolted towards her. "What did you do to Dean?!" He spat with more energy than he had.

"Hmm? No." She spoke slowly and reached out to creepily pet Cas' hair. "You human?"

"What?... Yes, yes I am." Cas was a terrible liar but she didn't catch on. He was powerless and mortal but he was created as an angel and that fact would never change. He tried to cock his head away from her onslaught of affection but he didn't have a lot of wiggle room against the pole with his arms tied up. "If you don't mind this is, uncomfortable."

"Yes. Make more un-com-for-ting." She sounded out the last word incorrectly like a child learning to read. "You too strong for spell."

Cas looked up at her again. "A spell? Are you a witch?" He hid the panic in his voice a little.

"Mommy was witch." She answered calmly as she continued to pet his messy thick hair. He squirmed under her touch.

"... Was?"

"Meow meow!" She meowed like a happy little cat.

Cas' eyes just squinted at the various meanings of her answer but the cages were the last piece of the puzzle.

"You… Do you… turn people into cats?!?"

"YES!" She giggled and smiled at him. "You too! You too!" She jumped up and down and left the tent on a mission.

"Hey! HEY! Come back here!" Cas screamed over his shoulder and some of the cats joined in yeowling.

Cas turned back and yanked the rope a single time in defeat before whispering to himself "Dean, where are you? Please be okay." He closed his eyes and wondered if he had died when the car crashed. He prayed it wasn't true even though it probably was. He squinted back tears while he contemplated the worst until a small noise caught his attention. One of the cats was gnawing at it's stick cage. It clawed at the twine and snapped the wood between its teeth.

"I wish I could help you." Cas was so filled grief. "I wish I could help you all… but now… I'm not strong enough to even break out of this rope… I wasn't strong enough to save Dean. Oh God, please let Dean be okay." He let his head hang down with guilt and worry until something warm sat on his unbroken left leg.

"Puurr-ow!" The cat that was trying to eat its way out of its cage broke free!

"Hello there." Cas sniffed, barely up for a conversation. "You did it. Now get before she finds you." He whispered.

"Meooow!" It yelled back to him before jumping onto his head and leaping up to the thick ropes. It dug claws into the wood of the pole and chewed wildly at the rope. Cas twisted to see. "No, you won't be able to." But the cat continued on and there wasn't anything Cas could do to stop it. The next thing Cas felt was the dead weight on his arms falling. He must of slipped into unconsciousness at some point. His ears were ringing an incessant high pitch that heightened the ache in his head. Next, the cat leapt down and purred while it's sandpaper tongue licked Cas' scuffed raw wrists. Castile opened his eyes wearily to watch the black cat. He moved to pet it on the head and the cat immediately pushed its face across his knuckles eliciting a louder purr. Cas smiled a little smile as much as his depressed and defeated self would allow.

"If Dean were here he would be working on a plan. But, "I have no gift for strategy". Do you know that reference, little one? It's from the Princess Bride. Dean made me watch it. It was really quite wonderful."

"Mmmmo?" The cat replied.

"I know. I'm sorry. Is hard to focus right now. I'm not used to my head hurting this much and I'm just so tired. Being human is difficult. It seems I might have a concussion. It's highly probable anyway. Okay, let's get out of here first. Then we'll get help and come back for the others. Is that a good plan?"

The cat did not reply, only glared with judgement the way cats do.

Cas stood up using the pole and grit his teeth through the pain of having to move his broken bones and ligaments. A fresh tsunami of pain hit his brain and it was enough to knock him into the floor again. The cat jumped in surprise when he feel then immediately ran to his face and licked his cheek coaching him to try again.

"There's no way I can get anywhere like this. I can't get help and no one will listen to you." He paused and sighed. "Dean, would know what to do." He held in his breath and told himself that Dean couldn't be dead as the cat continued licking.

"Okay, okay. I'll try." Cas stood up again and swallowed back the pain he hopped over to the door frame and peeked out between the leather. The woman was nowhere in sight. There was an awful sound coming from somewhere in the campsite, maybe in one of the other yurts, there were three in total. Then, Cas recognized the sound of snoring so he slipped out along the yurt wall and hobbled along as quickly as he could away from the camp. His stomach growled at the smell of whatever was cooking over the fire. The sun was either rising or setting it was hard to tell with all the cloud coverage dumping steady rain onto the muddy Earth. The cat's paws stuck in the softer mud and it shook them daintily when they were temporarily freed in-between its skillfully placed steps as it led Cas towards the trees. Somehow Cas managed to make it into the treeline and ungracefully fell behind a low bush. Pain radiated throughout his leg now. It burned too. For the first time Cas took a moment to look at his injuries. First he touched his temple that revealed dried blood that was renewed from the rain. Next, he examined the most painful parts of his leg. He tore open his pant leg at the knee from the already present slashes in the material to expose an unwelcome sight. Cas could actually see his cracked white knee cap and could see that there were missing pieces. The skin around it was profusely swollen and the ugliest shade of purple. His breathing hitched and his eyes widened with fear. He laid back in the wet leaves and covered his eyes with one hand. Of course he had sustained injuries far far worse than this. He had healed injuries far worse than this. But his one hundred percent human mind was panicking at the sight of his one hundred percent human exterior, torn and tattered, broken and scattered until the sweet sound of purring cuddled next to his ear provided just the right amount of warmth to bring him down from the onslaught of fear and the unrelenting pull of anxiety.

"There you are." Cas spoke without moving, afraid that if he did the cat would move away. "Are you okay? You're getting all wet."

The cat licked his temple with its sandpaper-tongue as reply.

"We better keep moving, little one." And the cat got up as Cas sat himself up.

"Mreeeow!" The cat bellowed.

"No, I'm fine." Cas winced.

The cat pranced over to a stick that seemed perfect to be used as a walking stick and meowed again.

"That's great! Thank you! Good cat!" Cas thanked him awkwardly but was every bit appreciative.

Cas scooted over to reach it then stuck the stick into the mud and used it to pull himself up to stand.

The camp was still and the sound of the rain had covered up any sound of their movement through the puddles.

The pair trudged on. The rain matted down Cas' hair and the cat's hair but they persisted. Cas internally decided that the sun was setting as the air was starting to become more brisk and thin. It was going to be a cold night. Not a good night for traveling on a broken knee, though the mud, in a dark, muddy, unfamiliar forest, to say the least.

Then the cat meowed back at Cas and shot off running ahead of him.

"Hey! Wait!" Cas beaconed carefully.

Cas cleared the trees and found what appeared to be a junkyard of cars. Similar to Bobby's except smaller and a wider variety of vehicles. There was an Amish buggy with a broken wheel, two old motorcycles and one had a sidecar, an Oldsmobile and a Z4.

Cas stared into the eclectic mess thinking of all the potential explanations. He came to the disgusting conclusion that the daughter of the witch, perhaps a witch herself, must prey on survivors of car accidents out here in the middle of nowhere. Or perhaps maybe even causes the accidents herself. Then, for some twisted reason turns them into cats. But why? Easier than taking and holding humans? He didn't want to try to understand the mind of the ferally insane any deeper.

A quick "Mao! Mao!" of the cat took Cas' attention to a depressing sight of a busted jet black Impala, Dean's baby, that appeared to have been crushed in a trash compactor. Cas limped over. He first opened the trunk and put a gun against his back after checking the magazine for bullets. Although he wasn't very good at shooting a gun, yet, it could be used if necessary. Next he moved to the passenger front seat and after prying the barley attached door open he sat on the familiar leather. The sight of the cat sitting all curled up in the driver's seat made Cas crack a smile this was paired with a sweet relief of getting off his leg. The walking stick was a great tool to get the glove box open and just as he hoped was still filled with cell phones. He reached past the cracked plastic and grabbed the first one and dialed Sam.

"Hello? Dean?" Sam answered frantically.

"Sam! It's me, Cas."

"Cas! Are you guys okay?! I went to the nest and I couldn't find you! I thought…"

"A witch! In the woods… We crashed! And now I can't find Dean! She turns people into cats and… oh God." It clicked in Cas' mind. "Sam she eats the cats. She eats the people like some sort of cannibal. The food she was cooking… It was cat!"

"Cas, dude, calm down. You're not making any sense. Dean's not with you?"

"I...no, no I haven't seen him since we crashed, Sam, I don't know if-"

"We'll find him Cas." Sam cut him off and wouldn't allow that kind of talk. "Tell me where you are."

"In the woods. She um… I remember she dragged me through the woods. The car is here, I found the Impala, I'm sitting in it right now. But she couldn't have driven it. I don't know how she got it here. There's no way, it's too broken."

"Okay, Cas, just try to find your way back to the road. Do you remember which route Dean took?"

"Well, there was a place called 'Grandpa's Cheese Barn' that Dean was excited about visiting on the way back however I don't recall-"

"I know where you are. Perfect. I'm not too far away. I'm in Pennsylvania but the turnpike was a standstill filled with traffic. Dean probably knew it would be with the rain so…. He took the route down to Steubenville up to, no he hates that freeway…" Sam mumbled and Cas could hear the fumbling of paper, probably a map. "He loved driving through these hills last time we- okay! I think I got an idea."

Thunder clapped and the lightning lit up the junk yard. Both Cas and the cat jumped a little. Only then had Cas realized how dark it had become. "Was that thunder?" Sam begged an answer.

"Yes, it's been raining heavily here for a long time now."

"Awesome! I'll check the weather radar and see if I can pinpoint you. I'll use the cell phone's signal but the battery might not last long enough on that old one. Oh! And I'll also check missing persons reports in southern and mid Ohio to see if she had been… eating...um, cat people."

Just then the little black cat hissed and Cas froze in terror. The lightning flashed simultaneously with the boom of thunder.

"Cas? You there? Cas!" Sam panicked again.

Cas swallowed deep and whispered. "She found me."

"Who? Run! Run away! Kill her! Cas! Get out of there!"

"It's too late." Cas' bones wouldn't let him lie. He knew the truth, there was no escape, he was too weak and not clever enough. He had forgotten about the gun as defence. He had forgotten Sam was yelling at him through the phone. He had forgotten about the thunder and lightning. He even forgot about his aching leg. The stillness made his heart freeze and his breath sinch until there was a crunch in the distance, maybe forty feet away. Death was imminent. In the three seconds he had left he prayed he could see Dean again, know that he was okay. He begged for forgiveness for all his faults and shortcomings. He prayed he that he could have been stronger but it was all too late. The weapon that was about to strike him had already been launched and was traveling toward him. It was perfectly aimed at the right side of his head where he held the phone and was about to come through the already shattered glass of the passenger window at neck breaking speeds. Soon, it would crush the phone and Cas' fingers on its way to his skull.

And so, it happened.

Cas' limp body launched across the seat from the impact of a log that was hurled toward him. He fell onto the cat who jumped down into the seatwell floor with the pedals. The cat hid in silence like the Ninja that it was however not as calmly. When the driver door opened from the outside of the car, it pounced, with the intention of murder, only to be picked up by the scruff and tossed into another cage. It did manage to get a few cuts in first.

The cat hissed and bellowed at the woman who carried both it and dragged Cas by the collar of his shirt. The cat reached out between the stick bars of its cage to cut her again but the cage was hung on a string at the end of a stick placing its target just out of reach. Nonetheless, it continued relentlessly.

They came to a thin tree that stood near the far edge of her camp. It didn't have leaves and the branches' tips were turning black. The tree was barkless, smooth and white. The cat watched as Cas' body was lifted, seemingly by magic, hung by the wrists with a chain from the strongest branch that left his knees bent and hanging just above the ground and his feet setting in the mud. The cat hissed again and again. Then it was hung, still in its cage on an opposite branch of the same tree.

"You shhh!" The women demanded but it only made the cat meow louder in some sort of form of pissed off talk-back.

She turned away and marched back into her yurt.

The rain poured more and more as if the heavens were flooded themselves. The cat anxiously waited to see if there was any movement from Cas. It never stopped watching him, all through the night, as incessant as the cold rain fall. The sticks were too hard to bite through but it still nawed at them intermittently. The cat shivered under its soaked black coat that revealed its tiny rib cage. Eventually it gave up and did its best to curl up to conserve heat to stay warm. At the slightest extra sound its ears would perk up and it proved its vigilance.

The rain slowed to a light drizzle as the sun rose the next morning. The whole area was covered in dense fog. Some of the water droplets had frozen to the tips of the grass and leaves, thanks to mother nature's 'Jack Frost' trick with the dew.

The witch came out and started a fire under her big pot and began adding small bits of leaves and roots to the pot. But the fire went out, the ground was wet and so was the firewood. She left and went into the woods, away from the white tree.

The cat heard a nimble step in the trees behind it and there was Sam! His gun was out and filled with witch killing bullets. The cat called out with joy. "Mrow-meow!" and Sam squinted at it as it continued to meow in his general direction. Sam's eyes surveyed the camp and happy to not find anything Sam came out from the treeline and went to Cas.

"Cas! Jesus…" He saw the gash on the side of his head. He checked for a pulse and furrowed his brow at how cold his pale skin felt.

Just then the cat's meowing switched to an angry hiss. Sam turned to see a log flying straight at him that he managed to dodge with a barrel roll as it flew like a cannonball just past Cas. Then, he reached back for his gun and skillfully landed a single headshot.

It was done. Sam stoically lowered his gun.

Just then someone fell down from the white tree that made Sam turn around.

"Dean!" He exclaimed while running to his brother who was trying to get up from his fall.

"Hi-ya, Sammy, nice shot." He strained to get up and grabbed onto Sammy's jacket for support.

"Hey, take it easy, were… Were you that cat?"

Dean blinked several times. "Later. How's Cas? Did you get a pulse?"

"Dean, I-"

Not happy with an answer that didn't immediately start with a 'yes' Dean jolted. "No!" He shoved his little brother aside to reach his angel.

Sam answered. "I didn't get a chance, Dean. Do you feel it?"

Dean gripped onto Cas' shoulder with his left and checked for a pulse at his jugular along his throat with his right. His blood was slick on his neck being mixed with rain water. His skin was absolutely freezing and there was frost on the tips of his hair.

"C'mon, buddy…" Dean whispered and changed his hand placement.

"Dean, he's… He's cold."

"Shut-up!" Dean closed his eyes and focused while pressing his fingers harder against the place he knew he should feel a pulse. "I...I got it!" He threw his eyes open relieved.

There was movement in a yurt and several confused people started to come out.

"Call 911, Sammy."

"But-"

"Just do it. She's killed too many. You killed her in self-defense. They've seen us. Cas needed a hospital two days ago. Just make the call and go help them."

"What do we tell them?" Sam looked to his brother.

"The truth. Now, go." Dean ordered.

Sam turned away while placing the call. He said he was looking for his brothers when he found this woman who had trapped a bunch of people in the woods and he killed her when she attacked him. He mentioned the others and said that his brother almost didn't have a pulse and was 'hurt real bad'. They were sending a chopper and ambulances and police and they would be there in about fifteen minutes. Oddly enough, Sam did not have to follow the tracks past the skid marks from the Impala too far into the woods to find them. The woods could hide so much so easily. They were rather close to the road, no more than half a mile. But the witch's camp was in a low land and almost magically hidden from the road and locals. He stayed on the phone with the dispatcher while he acted just as confused as the others, which wasn't hard, he really was confused. Some shook Sam's hand, one huddled on the ground and wept into her knees, two children were being tightly held by their mother, and one young couple cried softly while embracing one another.

On the other end of camp Dean had gingerly lifted Cas by the waist and pulled him along with the chains to the end of the branch and now held him in his arms on the ground. Cas was lifeless. His arms laid straight with his hands twisted together by the chains. His right hand fingers were brutally mangled, swollen and blazing blues and purples. The sun had now burst through the clouds and melted the frost on his hair. Dean had taken off his jacket and laid it over Cas' chest by now. He held him closer in hopes to warm him up and coax his heart to beat faster.

"Dammit, Cas." He muttered. He pulled his sleeve down over the palm of his hand and used it to rub Cas' hair a little dryer. Cas turned his head into the touch ever so slightly and Dean smiled.

He showed no further sign of consciousness but that was enough for Dean to let go his inhibitions.

"Cas, you were right, okay? I am reckless. It's only...I can't believe I'm doing this… it's only because there's never really been too many people I was worried about leaving behind if I got killed. Other than Sammy, you're the only one I'd worry about…. And, shit. You remember when we fell into that well back in Cold Oak, where Sammy had that show down thanks to yellow-eyes? We were trapped and I was knocked out but later you like poured out your heart and soul saying you were worried crazy about me? Then you kissed me? Remember that? I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I was such a dick. You scared the crap out of me, Cas. I never thought you could really, seriously like me. I'm scared that… that if I told you…. Fuck… IF I said I felt the same way, what would happen to us? There. If I felt the same way I'm scared of what would happen. Like some angels won't like it or we'd become a target for some other monsters. I don't want… I can't lose you. I'm scared that if something good happens to me something will come and take it away. Like it always does. And I'd rather force a strict friendship than lose you too. Okay? So that's it. Damnit. There. I'll try to explain that better when you wake up, buddy. I'm sorry I'm such a fuck up." Dean took a long breath and held Cas against him tightly. He closed his eyes and contently sat there praying over and over again that Cas would survive this. Then, he heard Cas give out a short moan against his shirt.

"Cas?" Dean sniffed and called again. "Cas, talk to me, you there?"

Cas mumbled something incomprehensive in the back of his throat.

"C'mon, buddy." Dean cheered him on, anticipation building up inside of him.

Cas pushed the word out further. "De-an?"

Dean couldn't help but to kiss him suddenly. It was rushed and happy.

"Yes! Hey! Hi! It's okay. You're okay. Help is coming. I got you. That bitch is dead. It's okay now. I'm here." He brushed his angel's hair back.

Cas blinked his eyes open just wide enough to make out Dean's silhouette.

"Not...dead?" Cas breathed more fully. "Dean? Dean!" His words were soft, almost whispered past a sore throat. "You're not dead! I'm so glad!" He paused and tried to swallow. "Did… did you just kiss me?" He looked up with that adorable puzzled grimace. "I thought you said-"

Dean cut him off with another short kiss that Cas didn't have enough time to return. Dean's warm hand remained on his cold check brushing it lightly with his thumb. Dean beamed a lovely smile down at him as the sound of a helicopter nearing them ruined the moment.

"I'll explain later." Dean still smiled. "By the way, you're stupid."

"What? Why?" Cas' heart couldn't take much more.

"I was the cat, you idiot." Dean watched as the wheels turned slowly in Cas' bruised brain.

"Huh? The black one? But… you licked my ear."

"Yeah, so what? Shut-up, Cas!"


End file.
